Nearly two months after Angus Cloud’s tragic death at just 25 years of age, Euphoria creator Sam Levinson opens up about how he tried to get him sober.
Cloud was plucked from obscurity when he was noticed by a casting director while waiting tables in Brooklyn, which lead to him being cast as kind-hearted drug dealer Fezco in HBO’s Euphoria.
He quickly became a fan favorite, with Levinson, 38, revealing in an interview with People – his first since Cloud’s death on July 31 that was ruled an accidental overdose of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and more – that they were originally planning on killing Fezco off at the end of Season 1… but he was just too beloved.
‘Angus was supposed to die at the end of the first season, but I loved him so f—ing much,’ Levinson admitted.
‘The first thing I noticed about him was he had those Paul Newman eyes … and his audition tape where he said that his name was Angus Cloud and he’s “five foot 12.” It killed me. He was perfect,’ Levinson admitted.
Sober: Nearly two months after Angus Cloud’s tragic death at just 25 years of age, Euphoria creator Sam Levinson opens up about how he tried to get him sober
Fezco: Cloud was plucked from obscurity when he was noticed by a casting director while waiting tables in Brooklyn, which lead to him being cast as kind-hearted drug dealer Fezco in HBO ‘s Euphoria
Fan favorite: He quickly became a fan favorite, with Levinson, 38, revealing in an interview with People – his first since Cloud’s death on July 31 that was ruled an accidental overdose of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and more – that they were originally planning on killing Fezco off at the end of Season 1… but he was just too beloved
‘I think part of the problem is I would sometimes put actors ahead of the show at times. So I was like, “Okay, I can’t kill him because then what is he to look forward to?”‘ Levinson admitted.
One of Cloud’s close friends, Lilita, revealed smoking weed with Cloud on the set after wrapping his first scene with Zendaya.
‘I’m like, “Bro, we can’t.” But he’s like, “It’s good. The cast members are cool as long as the little f—ing asshole errand runners don’t see us,”‘ Lilita said.
Levinson admitted he was unaware of Cloud’s drug use, adding, ‘I would have kicked him off the set if he was smoking weed.’
Cloud suffered a traumatic head injury at just 15, with his mother Lisa admitting, ‘The drug use most likely had something to do with his need to relieve his pain.’
Then during the pandemic, Cloud suffered another injury – cracking his heel bone in multiple spots while running from police in Los Angeles… after he was almost caught ‘tagging.’
The injury caused him to have to walk with a cane though he refused further treatment, which Lisa believes caused him to delve deeper into drug use.
‘That’s really what started his drug-seeking behavior, I think. It was hugely painful. I was pushing him. I’m like, “You’re not going to start season two for at least four months. Do that heel surgery. It is a four-month recovery. Do it now.” But he just became unhappy, and he couldn’t figure out how to deal with it,’ Lisa said.
Can’t: ‘I think part of the problem is I would sometimes put actors ahead of the show at times. So I was like, “Okay, I can’t kill him because then what is he to look forward to?”‘ Levinson admitted
Smoking: One of Cloud’s close friends, Lilita, revealed smoking weed with Cloud on the set after wrapping his first scene with Zendaya
Injury: The injury caused him to have to walk with a cane though he refused further treatment, which Lisa believes caused him to delve deeper into drug use
Drug-seeking: ‘That’s really what started his drug-seeking behavior, I think. It was hugely painful. I was pushing him. I’m like, “You’re not going to start season two for at least four months. Do that heel surgery. It is a four-month recovery. Do it now.” But he just became unhappy, and he couldn’t figure out how to deal with it,’ Lisa said
It got to the point where Levinson even suggested a stint in rehab before the second season started filming.
‘I looked him in the eye and I knew that he wasn’t doing well. At the same time I’ve been in these situations before where you’re trying to get someone clean,’ said Levinson, whose own experiences as a teenage drug addict forms a loose basis for Euphoria.
‘And I just said to him, “I love working with you and we’ve got this amazing season planned and stuff, but I need you to be sober because I got to be able to rely on you,”‘ Levinson explained.
Cloud entered a 30-day in-patient rehab program that HBO paid for, and after the in-patient treatment he countinued with an out-patient program for three more months.
‘I could always feel that he didn’t want [sobriety] as much as we all wanted it for him,” Levinson admitted.
‘That’s where it gets tricky because the whole world can want it for you. But he didn’t want it. It’s just the self-destructive side of addiction and it outweighs everything. But you can’t give up on people. I wasn’t going to let anyone give up on him,’ Levinson said.
Cloud started using heavily halfway through filming of Euphoria’s second season, leading to Levinson staging another intervention for Cloud on the set.
‘You’ve got to get help and you’ve got to get help right now,’ Levinson told Cloud, before he took him to rehab again after wrapping the fifth episode of Season 2.
Rehab: It got to the point where Levinson even suggested a stint in rehab before the second season started filming
Clean: ‘I looked him in the eye and I knew that he wasn’t doing well. At the same time I’ve been in these situations before where you’re trying to get someone clean,’ said Levinson, whose own experiences as a teenage drug addict forms a loose basis for Euphoria
Sober: ‘And I just said to him, “I love working with you and we’ve got this amazing season planned and stuff, but I need you to be sober because I got to be able to rely on you,”‘ Levinson explained
Right now: ‘You’ve got to get help and you’ve got to get help right now,’ Levinson told Cloud, before he took him to rehab again after wrapping the fifth episode of Season 2
Cloud was actually wearing the red hoodie that Zendaya’s character Rue – who has struggled with addiction throughout the series – when he had a revelation in the backseat of Levinson’s car.
‘Oh, s—, I feel just like Rue,’ Cloud said, as Levinson joked, ‘All right, well, do us a favor and don’t run,’ as Cloud burst into laughter.
After being initially set to be killed off in Season 1, he was again supposed to meet his maker in a hail of gunfire in Season 2… but Levinson just couldn’t do it.
Levinson revealed that when he told Cloud about his character’s death, ‘I could just see the blood kind of run out of his face.’
‘I think the hardest thing is when you have addiction issues — it’s about finding your purpose and finding your meaning in life. The one thing that I knew is he loved making this show. He loved the crew. He loved the actors. He loved everything about it. And I just thought, if this goes away, I don’t know what’s going to happen in his life,’ Levinson explained.
So he decided to convince his producing partners that, once again, he can’t kill off the beloved Fezco.
‘I can’t do it. I can’t kill him. We got to keep him around. He’s too special. It doesn’t matter what the f—king story is,’ Levinson told them, leaving to Fez’s younger brother Ashtray (Javon Walton) being killed in a police raid.
The second season wrapped in February 2022, with Levinson having a four-hour talk with Cloud at his home about getting sober for Season 3.
Angus and Zendaya: Cloud was actually wearing the red hoodie that Zendaya’s character Rue – who has struggled with addiction throughout the series – when he had a revelation in the backseat of Levinson’s car
Couldn’t: After being initially set to be killed off in Season 1, he was again supposed to meet his maker in a hail of gunfire in Season 2… but Levinson just couldn’t do it
Ashtray: ‘I can’t do it. I can’t kill him. We got to keep him around. He’s too special. It doesn’t matter what the f—king story is,’ Levinson told them, leaving to Fez’s younger brother Ashtray (Javon Walton) being killed in a police raid
Talk: The second season wrapped in February 2022, with Levinson having a four-hour talk with Cloud at his home about getting sober for Season 3
‘No, no, I’m good. I’m good,’ Levinson said Cloud told him during that chat, but he knew otherwise.
‘I could tell, at that time, it was like he wasn’t interested. He wasn’t going to do anything, and yeah, he didn’t want it,’ Levinson admitted.
Cloud continued using when the actor learned that his beloved father was dying in the hospital, as he was given some time off of a horror movie he was shooting to visit his father in Oakland… and he passed away just one day later.
While Cloud did fly to Ireland in late July, he missed the funeral because he was too high.
‘He absolutely loved his father. He also knew he really loved him. He was so proud of Angus. My son thought of Pops as his best friend. There is no doubt that his father’s death took a toll on him,’ Lisa admitted.
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